...I've finally gotten everything ported over to WordPress. This blog will now be left as an archive. Please find me at my new home:
http://walkingtowardrefuge.wordpress.com/URL's a bit lengthy, but the other choices I tried were all taken. :D Forgive me!!
Well, I hate to say, it, 'cause I love da layout, but I've made the decision to port this blog to my wordpress account soon. I love the functionality over there, and that's where all my other creative projects are so...expect a move soon.
In more serious news - I've been missing for so long because my Dad's liver began failing. A couple of weeks ago I called in some favors and managed to fly up to see him in Mt. Sinai. To be honest, my Mom and I figured he'd be dead within a week - he was really sick, y'all. And it was hard to watch the progression of his illness. He was diagnosed with hepatic encephalopathy - basically as his liver failed, it would spew ammonia it couldn't process into surrounding tissues. This both ruined his muscle tone and messed with his cognition. When I flew up I hadn't really talked to my *Dad* per se in six or eight months.
So, for months and months I've done the only thing I could think to do for my Mom, as far away as we live. I was an ear to her concerns and fears and frustrations. That's been heavy, but I was SO glad to be able to do it. Figured it was the least I could do.
Anyway, he'd been on the transplant list for quite a bit, but we'd had 6 fall through - I few up on a non-refundable ticket because we had thought one was really it. I got on the plane thinking this was my opportunity to spend some last precious time with my parents together - that this was my goodbye to my Dad, more or less. I got off the plane and let my Mom know I was at JFK and I'm happy to report that during my flight they took my Dad into surgery for his transplant.
Long story short, and I'm sure I'll blog more about this and all the other things I've been thinking about - I'm so deeply grateful for transplants - I have my Dad back. Not the befuddled, very sick guy I'd talk to briefly on the phone for a big chunk of the last year - they really cool guy I adore and grew up with. ^_^ Transplants are gobsmackingly amazing. People go into surgery near-death and a week later are able to leave the hospital under their own power. I just hope donor families know how amazing and precious a thing transplants are. I am forever grateful to the donor family that gave my Dad a second lease on life.
Well, this post is meandering. I guess I should just say life has been keeping me busy. And don't get me started on the local economy and our little home based business.... :P
Next post, back to "normal" - whatever that is.... ^_-
Molly Brown, over at Destination the Journey, today broached something that is a strong component of my practice.
While you sit reading this, someone is giving birth, another is dying, another grieves the loss of a love one. Everything in the breadth and depth of daily human experience is happening right now.
As I move through my day, I do my best to bear this in mind, and honor all these beings and their experiences with my behavior. It doesn't always work, and I am constantly having to pull myself back to this thought, but I try to do my best.
When I begin to pity myself or my situation, I find remembering that many of my brothers and sisters are in far worse places returns me to center. I pray for peace and strength of heart for them, and then also for myself.
I want to make a point to say that I am grateful for the good life that I have. I guess blogging can lead to some self-absorbed introspection, which is quite honestly why I hesitate to post a lot of times lately. XD
Blargh. It's been a long time since I blogged. Life has presented me with great challenges lately. An ailing parent. At least one child that may be heading for an Asperger's diagnosis. The failing "secondary" economy in the area (we live in an area that caters to vacationers) has made things...interesting, as well. That's definitely the word - interesting.
Anyway - a couple of recent discoveries: I loved James Ure's post on Kafka, not so long ago. I always liked Kafka, but I don't remember reading that first poem James includes. In any case, I found the post refreshing. ^_^ Also - I'm currently reading Light Comes Through by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. This is a highly readable, slim little volume. I'll have a review soon.
Via both The Buddhist Blog and lotusinthemud I found a really interesting quote from Venerable Khema. (Check out the links for the quote - figured repeating it a third time was a bit redundant. 0.O) I wasn't familiar with the Venerable so I did a little research. Resources I found:
Among her many other accomplishments, Ayya Khema was the spiritual director of Buddha-Haus in Germany, founded with her guidance. (An English language version of their website can be found here.) Her ashes rest in a beautiful stupa there:Ayya Khema (August 25, 1923 - November 2, 1997), a Buddhist teacher, was born as Ilse Ledermann in Berlin, Germany, to Jewish parents.
Khema dodged the Nazis during World War II, but was interned by the Japanese. She eventually moved to the United States. After travelling in Asia she decided to become a Buddhist nun in Sri Lanka in 1979. She was very active in providing opportunities for women to practice Buddhism, founding several centers around the world. In 1987 she co-ordinated the first ever International Conference of Buddhist Nuns.
Khema wrote over two dozen books in English and German. Her autobiography, I Give You My Life, is an adventure story sprinkled with nuggets of spiritual wisdom.
As you can tell (^_^), I've gathered a lot of online resources to read and listen to. So far I'd say her speaking and writing style are very accessible and interesting to lay-person-me. I'd be very interested to know if any of y'all have read her books, and what your opinion is, or perhaps even which one is your favorite, if you've read much by her.Thought I'd begin a real return to blogging with some interesting tidbits.
First off, did you know that k.d. lang is Buddhist? I've known for quite a while, but it's only recently that I've seen a lot of press on the matter. As a matter of fact, Shambala Sun has a recent (03/08) interview with her:
Melvin McLeod: What type of Buddhism do you practice?She and her partner (Jamie Price) are on the board of directors of Ari Bödh, the American Foundation for Tibetan Cultural Preservation. Also amongst their small sangha's current projects is "a children’s camp called Tools for Peace."
k.d.lang: About eight years ago I met a teacher here in Los Angeles from the Nyingma lineage of Tibet, Lama Chödak Gyatso Nubpa. The great teacher Chagdud Tulku asked him to come here and work on stabilizing dharma in the West. Lama Gyatso quickly became my teacher. I have been practicing and studying with him since.
I am totally thinking about putting back a stash of comic books to send to him, when I can. ^_^In your talk earlier today, you mentioned that you used to read X-Men and other comics. Is that something you still do?
I would continue reading comic books, but not many people give them to me anymore! When I was young, all kinds of people would give me comic books, but now they don't. As you know, they made a movie of the X-Men, and I enjoyed that very much. When I went to Universal Studios, I thought about buying some X-Men comics while I was there. But it was very crowded and I thought, "Well, maybe it wouldn't be so appropriate for an adult to purchase such things."
* I am not going to weigh in on this, but there is some controversy as to who the 17th Karmapa is - see this article for more. I see no reason, regardless of one's position on this controversy, to not refer to him by his appropriate title.And last, but not least, via Venerable Konchog of Dreaming of Danzan Ravjaa, comes a fun invitation to provide a caption to this fab image:
Just a quick post - have a lot of thoughts bumping around in my head right now, but no cohesive order to them yet. However, I found an interesting link on lotusinthemud I thought was worth pointing out. Apparently, a Quaker teacher was fired for changing her loyalty oath to reflect her nonviolent spiritual views.
Sooo - way back in December I got tagged to do a meme by Precious Metal. Sounds like fun, I was just up to my eyeballs. Still am, but I'm moving the stuff around me a bit - making breathing room. Anyway, even though it's quite late - thought I'd participate....
The rules --
• Link to the person who tagged you and post the rules on your blog.I think I'm going to not tag other folks, as late as this is, and as many people as I've found who've already done this. However, here are my responses:
• Share 7 random or weird things about yourself.
• Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs
• Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
...well, after a fashion, at least. Time for another, more concerted effort, on a lot of fronts, including everyday life.
For the moment - I found something interesting on lotusinthemud today:
So, interesting food for thought, and an interesting counterpoint/addition to The Buddhist Blog's latest post.facing our own boredom, impatience, and fears
Having an initial good look round is a good idea but pick'n'mix isn't Buddhist training:If we do a little of one kind of practice and a little of another, the work we have done in one often doesn't continue to build as we change to the next. It is as if we were to dig many shallow wells instead of one deep one. In continually moving from one approach to another, we are never forced to face our own boredom, impatience, and fears. We are never brought face to face with ourselves. So we need to choose a way of practice that is deep and ancient and connected with our hearts, and then make a commitment to follow it as long as it takes to transform ourselves.~ Jack Kornfield in A Path with Heart
For anyone who chances on this blog and also reads Gregor's blogs, he's back, with a new blog: Meeting It Everywhere.
^_^
Just a little micro-post as I'm evidently wont to do (^_-) : I've started sort of a personal resource blog that I add online dharma resources to when I find them or think about it. Perhaps it might be helpful to someone else: Online Dharma Resources.
... is something I've been working on for probably way too long. I decided to just wrap it up and post it. I apologize ahead of time for any flaws in reasoning, Wrong Thinking, etc.
Here's some of what I've been reading concerning emptiness, if anyone's interested. At all. ^_^
(...this is a Pali word, meaning abundance, or fullness.)
I deeply appreciate the insight of all who have commented on this to me.
Right about the time I was reading Kunzang's wonderful commentary, I realized that I really did need to turn my view of emptiness around. So to speak.
I've long understood the usefulness, particularly in Buddhism, of studying/understanding paradox. However, in this case, I got hung up on the ideas and words of a specific concept. It took me a while to get over my over-intellectualizing of sunyata.
Anyway, I finally realized the truth of the fullness of emptiness. And vice versa. And once I got my head around the necessary duality of the concept, I was able to easily mesh the concept in with the concept of compassion. (By seeing our interdependence and co-arising, we see the absolute necessity of compassion and loving kindness. By exhibiting loving-kindness we are moving all of us towards enlightenment and the end of suffering. (At least that's my coarse and primitive sum-uppance. Gosh, this whole paragraph looks (is?) so droll and self-absorbed.))
I also realize that by approaching my understanding in this way, by coming at the mountain via more the idea of interdependence and co-arising, I am limiting myself. However, it's a start, and as I am just beginning to sort out the first few steps on this Path, I am content. For the moment.
Thus we see that the all-important thing is not killing or giving life, drinking or not drinking, living in the town or the country, being lucky or unlucky, winning or losing. It is how we win, how we lose, how we live or die; finally, how we choose. We walk, and our religion is shown (even to the dullest and most insensitive person), in how we walk. Living in this world means choosing, and the way we choose to walk is infallibly and perfectly expressed in the walk itself.Found this via BigHappyBuddha. Thanks for the inspiration.
- R. H. Blyth
OK, not trying to pinch other folks' stuff, but I found this quote on lotusinthemud, as well, and I thought it speaks to my other post about suffering and loving transformation.
Imagine walking along a sidewalk with your arms full of groceries, and someone roughly bumps into you so that you fall and your groceries are strewn over the ground. As you rise up from the puddle of broken eggs and tomato juice, you are ready to shout out, "You idiot! What's wrong with you? Are you blind?" But just before you can catch your breath to speak, you see that the person who bumped you is actually blind. He, too, is sprawled in the spilled groceries, and your anger vanishes in an instant, to be replaced by sympathetic concern: "Are you hurt? Can I help you up?" Our situation is like that. When we clearly realize that the source of disharmony and misery in the world is ignorance, we can open the door of wisdom and compassion. Then we are in a position to heal ourselves and others. ~ B. Alan Wallace, Tibetan Buddhism from the Ground Up
Found this on lotusinthemud:
Now, to figure out how to work more time for meditation into my life. -_^How do you deal with the death of your spouse? How would you feel if you lost your mother tomorrow? Or your sister or your closest friend? Suppose you lost your job, your savings, and the use of your legs, on the same day; could you face the prospect of spending the rest of your life in a wheelchair? How.... will you deal with your own death, when that approaches? You may escape most of these misfortunes, but you wont escape all of them.... You can suffer through things like that or you can face them openly--The choice is yours. Pain is inevitable. Suffering is not. Pain and suffering are two different animals. If any of these tragedies strike you in your present state of mind, you will suffer.... Buddhism does advise you to invest some of your time and energy in learning to deal with unpleasantness, because some pain is unavoidable. When you see a truck bearing down on you, by all means jump out of the way. But spend some time in meditation, too. Learning to deal with discomfort is the only way you'll be ready to handle the truck you didn't see.~Henepola Gunaratana, Mindfulness in Plain English
